April 17, 2008 8:01 AM
Abramoff the third man in Udall/Schaffer race
Jack Abramoff, currently living on the public dole in federal prison, is turning out to be the third man in the Mark Udall-Bob Schaffer race for the U.S. Senate.
First Schaffer took a trip to the Marianas Islands paid for in part by the lobbying firm Abramoff ran before he pleaded guilty to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials. The territory hired Abramoff's firm to fight efforts in Congress to reform working conditions in local factories.
Abramoff recently praised the Marianas guest-worker program even though worker abuses have been documented.
Comes now the pushback with news that Udall took $1,500 in contributions from firms that once employed Abramoff, reports Lynn Bartels.
Udall's campaign spokeswoman, Taylor West, said the donations from the companies' political action committees to the Eldorado Springs Democrat's congressional campaigns were legal. She said Udall plans to donate the $1,500 to an organization in the Marianas Islands that assists victims of human trafficking.Schaffer's campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, ripped Udall on Wednesday, questioning why he waited to return donations he got in 2000 and 2002.
The RockyTalk Live staff has packed our scuba gear and volunteered for a reportorial fact-finding trip to the Marianas Islands. The editors say they'll get back to us.
April 17, 2008
9:11 AM
jay writes:
Nice try.
Bob took money from Abramoff. Udall didn't. Period.
April 17, 2008
10:25 AM
Captain America writes:
This seems to me to be a pretty thin comparison. It's like saying that two guys are equally guilty of grand larceny because one drove the getaway car and the other ate breakfast in the same diner as the robbers that morning.
But maybe I'm just feeling less charitable towards Bob Schaffer these days because he has the gall to put his ads back on TV, where innocent school kids are invited to be shills for a political candidate they know nothing about. What a classless move.
April 17, 2008
10:29 AM
Captain America writes:
This seems to me to be a pretty thin comparison. It's like saying that two guys are equally guilty of grand larceny because one drove the getaway car and the other ate breakfast in the same diner as the robbers that morning.
But maybe I'm just feeling less charitable towards Bob Schaffer these days because he has the gall to put his ads back on TV, where innocent school kids are invited to be shills for a political candidate they know nothing about. What a classless move.
April 17, 2008
10:44 AM
SASQUATCH writes:
BO'S TIES TO TERRORISM:
WASHINGTON — Senator Obama's ties to a former leader of the violent left-wing activist group the Weather Underground are drawing new scrutiny as he battles Senator Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.
As an Illinois state senator in 2001, Mr. Obama accepted a $200 contribution from William Ayers, a founding member of the group that bombed the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon during the 1970s.
Mr. Ayers wrote a memoir, "Fugitive Days," published in 2001, and on the day of the September 11 terrorist attacks, he was quoted by the New York Times as saying: "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough."
He and Mr. Obama served together on the nine-member board of the Woods Fund, a Chicago nonprofit, for three years beginning in 1999, and they have also appeared jointly on two academic panels, one in 1997 and another in 2001.
________
The great BO unraveling is acceleration, this pathetic moonbat has 0% chance in a national election. Wright, Ayres....who is next? Che, Castro?
April 17, 2008
10:46 AM
Hogar De Vuelta (العودة) "Ask not what your country can do for you...." writes:
So now the standard is that you must be able to predict the future behavior of all donors. Bob is making it right and that should end it. It's not like its the Clintons taking money year after year from Chinese criminals.
April 17, 2008
10:52 AM
Captain Blah writes:
Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah Donations, Blah, Blah, Democrats, Blah, Blah, Corruption, Blah, Blah, Liberals, Blah, Blah, Blah, Cheney.
April 17, 2008
12:04 PM
history buff writes:
Big difference here is that Shaffer led the Republican committee majority in an attack against people subject to slave labor, a position supported by Abramoff and his goons. The donation made to Shaffer appears to have been rewarded by a reactionary attack against basic human rights. Udall got a check, but he didn't go vacationing with his wife to a five star hotel and then pay back Mr. Abromoff for his largess with a disgraceful performance at a Congressional hearing.
April 17, 2008
2:34 PM
JMH writes:
Buff,
You hit that one on the head. That is exactly what all this is about.
April 17, 2008
3:44 PM
Anonymous writes:
Abramoff is merely one of a great many Republicans who sponge of of taxpayer handouts.
Republicans just LOVE their entitlements.
April 17, 2008
3:52 PM
Anonymous writes:
All Abramoff did was lie, cheat and steal other people's money.
It's not like he was pulling a "Mark Foley" and trying to bugger little boys.
So, give him a break.
April 17, 2008
4:13 PM
am 760 writes:
Sasquatch, try to come back to reality. Anybody can contribute to Obama's campaign and obama has no control over this or who donates at the time.
Wow, you on the right are so scarred of obama it hilarious how petty you have beome.
Typical though, rather than take about issues, it more important to righties that he doesn't wear a flag pin, pathetic.
April 17, 2008
4:27 PM
history buff writes:
But Jack Abramoff wears a flag pin.
April 18, 2008
7:29 AM
just sayin' writes:
Udall did NOT vote to authorize the war..Showed some pretty good judgement, smarter than most.